I think we are all aware of the dreadful atrocities that were visited upon Jesus as He was scourged, beaten and crucified, so this Good Friday I’d rather look at Jesus’ inner life as we reflect on the meaning of Good Friday. What was Jesus going through as all these horrible things were done to Him? And while we do that, let us ask ourselves how we react to injustices when they are done to us.
It’s one thing to love other people when they respond in a loving way to you. It’s quite another thing to love others as they hate you, deride you, mock you, and beat you. Yet, Jesus never became the monster that other people had become as they directed their hatred towards Him.
It’s one thing to maintain your ideals when you feel supported by others who respect you and want to share in those ideals. It’s quite another thing to hold on to your ideals when no one else shares them, or no one else wants to identify with you when those ideals become an object of scorn. Yet, Jesus never abandoned who He was.
It’s one thing to keep your equilibrium when you are circled about by like minded supporters. It’s quite another thing to keep your equilibrium when rejection is the order of the day. Yet, Jesus never lost His integrity.
It’s one thing to be merciful when those around you are respectful and desiring mercy and are fair. But it’s quite another thing to be merciful when those around you are hateful, bitter and frozen in their revulsion to you. Yet Jesus said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”
It’s one thing to be forgiving when others want your forgiveness, or even when they don’t want your forgiveness but you know that forgiving is the right thing to do. But it is an entirely different thing to forgive when the enormity of the injustice done to you is so wounding that it is impossible to let go of the hurt. In fact, the wounds kill you.
Yet Jesus responded to all of these worst case circumstances without losing the ideals He preached. He did indeed turn the other check. He did indeed take upon Himself the sins of us all, without ever reacting in a way that diminished the truth of who He was.
How far away are we from the lessons He taught us by His words and by His conduct on the way to
Jesus not only gave us the good example of how to respond to injustices. He also gives us the power to overcome all disordered ways of living. That’s what it means when we say that by the cross of Jesus all of our sins are taken away. He by His cross became the source of salvation for all who obey Him.
When we turn our lives over to Christ, when we let Him into every facet of our lives, and when we truly desire to conform our lives so that in everything we aim to obey Him in all things: this is when salvation takes hold of a person. And in that saving grace, it is His power that enables us to do as He did – in everything. Perhaps slowly, but in time we become so attuned to Him that we can “confidently approach the throne of grace,” that is the cross, “to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help.”
On this Good Friday, let us approach the cross to venerate not only what Jesus has done on the cross, but let us also confidently approach this throne of mercy to find the grace to conquer every bit of resistance we have to Him, our Saving Lord.
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